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LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

arxiv.org

221–230 of 256 posts

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#221
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> humans, on average, are healthier and live longer than ever in human history. Kinda. We also have incredible rates of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. While I do mostly buy that the mind and the body are connected, I don't think being able to bench press 250lbs is a necessary, fundamentally human capability. I do think being able to think is. Literally Rene Descartes cogito ergo sum. If we lose cognit…

The higher rates don't make any sense if you don't try to take into account the fact that we live longer. Of course we will accumulate more diseases if we last longer.

Higher rates of obesity because we live longer?

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#222
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can finish reading your friend's favorite book or put it down if you don't like it. Neither are you economically compelled to read it by your workplace or forced to build work on top of it that will become difficult or impossible to modify/maintain if you bin the book. Economics does sometimes compel you to read books or other material as a condition or expectation of employment. It is difficult to get a good j…

? That's a complete non sequitur.

Cute phrase, but that's not how it's used.

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you don't use a skill, that smo atrophies I don't think the _ability_ to memorize phone numbers is what atrophied here by getting a cell phone. The _need_ did. It's harder to memorize phone numbers today because we lack the practical application of the memory (e.g. only when something fails do we actually try to put that memory to practice). I bet anyone would quickly pick up on memorizing phone numbers if they…

The ability atrophied because it was not practiced because there was no need.

It's not like we are born with a "phone number library" skill. It's a specific skill that's developed to meet a need. It's carved out of the grey matter, a little table for storing 7- or 9-digit numbers. But the grey matter is still available for other uses.

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And like a cult to those of us preferring not to engage, for whatever reason, with everyone and their dog telling us that we should (and sometimes getting quite offended, like our refusal to play that game is a personal attack on them for choosing to).

I just find it such a fascinating technology. It's finally fun to be a nerd again! For me it's the same feeling as when I was on the internet in the early '90s and was trying to tell people how useful it would be. I don't hold a grudge against anybody who held out until the iPhone came around or whatever it was that got them to finally realize the usefulness, but I still question why it was so hard to convince so man…

The amount of strawmen and false equivalencies here is crazy. I bet you can't name one person who refused to get Internet because photos don't load fast enough.

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#226
Simon Wardley:

> “GPTs are a non kinetic form of warfare designed to embed the values of a small number of people into much wider communities by capturing the process of decision making. The delivery mechanism is the appearance of helpfulness i.e. coherent and authoritative arguments. The payload is helplessness and the creation of a new theocracy.”

https://lnkd.in/p/efk8KaAN

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#227

Simon Wardley: > “GPTs are a non kinetic form of warfare designed to embed the values of a small number of people into much wider communities by capturing the process of decision making. The delivery mechanism is the appearance of helpfulness i.e. coherent and authoritative arguments. The payload is helplessness and the creation of a new theocracy.” https://lnkd.in/p/efk8KaAN

I didn’t realize until now that the “me, an intellectual:” meme format was parodying something that some people did earnestly.

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#228

Simon Wardley: > “GPTs are a non kinetic form of warfare designed to embed the values of a small number of people into much wider communities by capturing the process of decision making. The delivery mechanism is the appearance of helpfulness i.e. coherent and authoritative arguments. The payload is helplessness and the creation of a new theocracy.” https://lnkd.in/p/efk8KaAN

Interesting that he has this view.

I would have taken him for mostly pro LLM.

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#229

Simon Wardley: > “GPTs are a non kinetic form of warfare designed to embed the values of a small number of people into much wider communities by capturing the process of decision making. The delivery mechanism is the appearance of helpfulness i.e. coherent and authoritative arguments. The payload is helplessness and the creation of a new theocracy.” https://lnkd.in/p/efk8KaAN

Speaking as someone raised in an evangelical household and indoctrinated into thinking the world is only thousands of years old, this tracks. The most technologically advanced version of Chick tracts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract) to date.

Re: LLMs as a Cognitive Virus

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are an employee, the employer has control over how you should do your work. IF you don't like that, transition to being a contractor and sign service agreements where you are going to be paid solely for results not for how you achieve them.

That will change things for him, or any others taking the same course. Hundreds of millions can't all become contractors, and realistically wont all become contractors. So the issue described is a real social issue, whether he can "just" quit and avoid it or not.

How it reads is that the world has converged on an obviously bad technology. If only you had the chance to control it from top down and you wouldn’t let this mistake happen for you know what’s best for the world. Not only that, it’s double bad because you can’t do anything about it because everyone is under the illusion except you and a few other sensible people. And you would reject the notion that you have agency to change things.

Can’t take it seriously.

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